Read an Excerpt - PDF - Monergism Books
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18 THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE<br />
Shepherd’s voice <strong>an</strong>d have experienced his love at work in us. He has rescued<br />
us from our folly <strong>an</strong>d reintegrated us into the world that he made for our<br />
enjoyment. People who are not Christi<strong>an</strong>s also benefit from God’s great love<br />
for the hum<strong>an</strong> race, but they are not his sheep, <strong>an</strong>d so they do not underst<strong>an</strong>d<br />
God’s love or appreciate it as they should. Even if they have a belief in God,<br />
they do not know him as a loving Father who has made them, preserved them,<br />
saved them from the consequences of their rebellion against him, <strong>an</strong>d given<br />
them a new <strong>an</strong>d eternal life. They may follow a religious tradition out of habit<br />
or a sense of duty, or because it is part of their cultural inherit<strong>an</strong>ce, but they<br />
have never met the God they claim to worship. This phenomenon is very common<br />
in most parts of the world, where other religions vie with Christi<strong>an</strong>ity as<br />
<strong>an</strong> expl<strong>an</strong>ation of life’s me<strong>an</strong>ing. But it c<strong>an</strong> also be found in <strong>an</strong>d on the fringes<br />
of the church, where there are people who think of themselves as Christi<strong>an</strong>s<br />
but who lack <strong>an</strong>y clear form of belief that would give that claim some me<strong>an</strong>ing.<br />
These are the goats, whom we must distinguish from the sheep, however<br />
similar they may appear on the surface.<br />
Among the goats, there are m<strong>an</strong>y who attend church at certain times in<br />
their lives (for baptisms, weddings, <strong>an</strong>d funerals) or for import<strong>an</strong>t festivals<br />
(such as Christmas or Easter) but that is as far as it goes. Some of them may<br />
pray or read the Bible occasionally, especially when they have a particular<br />
need, but they treat these spiritual resources like medicines in the cabinet—<br />
something to be used when required but otherwise kept safely tucked away<br />
in storage. A few actually become members of a church <strong>an</strong>d may get quite<br />
involved in it, even to the point of becoming ordained pastors <strong>an</strong>d teachers.<br />
They may be idealistic <strong>an</strong>d well-me<strong>an</strong>ing, <strong>an</strong>d believe that the church is <strong>an</strong><br />
import<strong>an</strong>t vehicle for doing good in the world. Some of them may be quite<br />
spiritual in their own way, <strong>an</strong>d use prayer as a me<strong>an</strong>s of exp<strong>an</strong>ding their horizons<br />
or getting in touch with their inner selves. They may accept Christi<strong>an</strong><br />
teaching as a help to them in this, but they do not submit to it as their supreme<br />
<strong>an</strong>d unquestioned authority. They often welcome insights from other religions<br />
or belief systems, <strong>an</strong>d if there are elements of traditional Christi<strong>an</strong>ity that<br />
they find inconvenient, they either jettison them or reinterpret them to the<br />
point where they are no longer offensive—or even recognizable. These people<br />
embrace the traditions of the church but their beliefs <strong>an</strong>d behavior are a<br />
simulation of true Christi<strong>an</strong> faith <strong>an</strong>d not the real thing. This becomes clear<br />
when they come up against the sheep. When that happens, the goats often<br />
react by mocking the sheep <strong>an</strong>d deriding what they see as the sheep’s naivete.<br />
In extreme cases the goats may even try to drive the sheep out of the church
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